Authorizing transactions using negative pin messages

ABSTRACT

A method for authenticating a transaction includes: receiving, by a transaction processing unit of a computing system, a request for a transaction on a user account; generating, by the transaction processing unit, a personal identification number (PIN) and/or alert message; transmitting the PIN to a mobile device associated with the user account after a person requesting the transaction refuses authentication by a PIN-to-device process; and cancelling, by the transaction processing unit, the transaction when a response to the PIN and/or alert message is received from the mobile device within a specified period of time.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/376,475, filed Apr. 5, 2019. The contents of each of the foregoingare hereby incorporated by reference into this application as if setforth herein in full.

BACKGROUND

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in thissection are not prior art to the claims in this application and are notadmitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.

Two-factor authentication, for example, personal identification number(PIN)-to-device authentication, has been used to verify the identity ofa person attempting to perform a transaction. Out-of-band authenticationis a type of two-factor authentication that requires a secondaryverification method through a separate communication channel.

For example, a customer may initiate a telephone transaction with astore. To verify the identity of the customer, a customer servicerepresentative may request information from the customer that only thecustomer and the store should know, for example, a verbal answer to asecurity question (the first factor). The customer servicerepresentative may then cause a code, for example a PIN, to be generatedand communicated by a transaction system as a text message to atelephone number of a mobile device that was previously registered withthe store by the customer (the second factor). The customer then readsthe code back to the customer service representative, and if the coderead back by the customer matches the code generated and sent by thesystem, the transaction proceeds. If the codes do not match, thetransaction may be canceled or refused, or another method ofauthentication required.

In some cases, a person may be attempting to commit fraud, for example,on a wireless account to obtain a wireless device or to take over anaccount to commit other types of fraud such as financial fraud on abank. The fraudster may represent to the wireless company or bank thatthe registered phone has been lost, stolen, or damaged, and thereforesending a PIN to the mobile device would be useless. However, thefraudster may possess enough information about the true owner of theaccount to validate themselves and convince the wireless company or bankto proceed with the fraudulent transaction.

SUMMARY

Systems and methods for sending a numeric PIN and/or alert message to acustomer device to identify an attempt to commit fraud are provided. Theresponse to the message and the message itself may be different than themessage and PIN that is sent when the customer agrees to accept aPIN-to-device as an acceptable identification method. In the fraud case,where the purported customer indicates that a PIN-to-deviceidentification cannot be used for any reason, the message sent by thesystem may say, for example, “Someone is attempting to complete atransaction on your account, if this is not you, please respond withSTOP.”

According to various aspects there is provided a method. In someaspects, the method may include: receiving, by a transaction processingunit of a computing system, a request for a transaction on a useraccount; generating, by the transaction processing unit, a personalidentification number (PIN) and/or alert message; transmitting the PINand/or alert message to a mobile device associated with the user accountafter a person requesting the transaction refuses authentication by aPIN-to-device process; and canceling, by the transaction processingunit, the transaction when a response to the PIN and/or alert message isreceived from the mobile device within a specified period of time thatcan be customized to the transaction and/or channel (e.g. contactcenter, retail store) the transaction is taking place in. The PIN and/oralert message may be transmitted to the mobile device associated with auser account via short message service (SMS) or push notification.

The method may further include proceeding with the transaction when theresponse to the PIN and/or alert message is not received from the mobiledevice within the specified period of time. The specified period of timemay be determined based on a transaction channel through which therequest for the transaction is initiated. The transaction channel may bea retail transaction channel, an online transaction channel, or acontact center transaction channel. The specified period of time may bean amount of time less than a time for completing the transaction. Thetransaction processing unit may route the response to the PIN and/oralert message received from the mobile device to a transactionprocessing system to cancel the transaction.

According to various aspects there is provided a system in some aspects,the system may include: a computing device and a transaction processingsystem. The transaction processing system configured to receive, via thecomputing device, a request for a transaction on a user account;generate a personal identification number (PIN) and/or alert message;transmit the PIN and/or alert message to a mobile device associated withthe user account after a person requesting the transaction refusesauthentication by a PIN-to-device process; and cancel the transactionwhen a response to the PIN and/or alert message is received from themobile device within a specified period of time. The PIN and/or alertmessage may be transmitted to the mobile device associated with a useraccount via short message service (SMS) or push notification.

The transaction processing system may be further configured to proceedwith the transaction when the response to the PIN is not received fromthe mobile device within the specified period of time. The specifiedperiod of time may be determined based on a transaction channel throughwhich the request for the transaction is initiated. The transactionchannel may be one of a retail transaction channel, an onlinetransaction channel, or a contact center transaction channel. Thespecified period of time may be an amount of time less than a time forcompleting the transaction.

The computing device may include a transaction processing unit, and thetransaction processing unit may route the response to the PIN and/oralert message received from the mobile device to the transactionprocessing system to cancel the transaction.

According to various aspects there is provided a non-transitory computerreadable medium. In some aspects, the non-transitory computer readablemedium may include instructions for causing one or more processors toperform operations including: receiving a request for a transaction on auser account; generating a personal identification number (PIN) and/oralert message; transmitting the PIN and/or alert message to a mobiledevice associated with the user account after a person requesting thetransaction refuses authentication by a PIN-to-device process; andcanceling or refusing to complete the transaction when a response to thePIN is received from the mobile device within a specified period oftime.

The operations may further include proceeding with the transaction whenthe response to the PIN is not received from the mobile device withinthe specified period of time. The specified period of time may bedetermined based on a transaction channel through which the request forthe transaction is initiated. The operations may further includedetermining that the request for the transaction is initiated through aretail transaction channel, an online transaction channel, or a contactcenter transaction channel. In some cases the specified period of timemaybe an amount of time less than a time for completing the transaction.

The operations may further include routing the response to the PINand/or alert message received from the mobile device to a transactionprocessing system to cancel the transaction.

Numerous benefits are achieved by way of the various embodiments overconventional techniques. For example, the various embodiments use aprocess of sending a numeric PIN to a customer device to identify anattempt to commit fraud. The various embodiments provide methods andsystems for sending a PIN and/or alert message to a still active andfunctioning mobile device of an account holder that alerts the accountholder that a fraudulent transaction is being attempted by an imposterrepresenting that the mobile device is lost, stolen, or damaged. Theseand other embodiments along with many of its advantages and features aredescribed in more detail in conjunction with the text below and attachedfigures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Aspects and features of the various embodiments will be more apparent bydescribing examples with reference to the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is block diagram of an example system flow for transactionsthrough various ordering channels according to various aspects of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 2 is block diagram of an example system flow for processingnegative PIN-to-device responses of indicating a fraudulent transactionaccording to various aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example method for authenticatinga transaction using a negative PIN-to-device process according tovarious aspects of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example computing environment with anexample computing device suitable for use in some exampleimplementations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While certain embodiments are described, these embodiments are presentedby way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope ofprotection. The apparatuses, methods, and systems described herein maybe embodied in a variety of other forms. Furthermore, various omissions,substitutions, and changes in the form of the example methods andsystems described herein may be made without departing from the scope ofprotection.

The process of sending a numeric or alphanumeric PIN to a customermobile device, also referred to herein as PIN-to-device, may be a partof an authentication process to validate the identity of a person. ThePIN-to-device process sends a one-time PIN to a mobile device that isregistered with a wireless service provider for the account holder orauthorized user on the account on which the transaction is beingexecuted. If the account holder or authorized user lost the mobiledevice, if the mobile device has been stolen, or if the mobile device isdamaged, they will be unable to receive the PIN. Since the mobile deviceis missing, a PIN-to-device will not be sent to authenticate the accountholder since it will be assumed that the PIN will not be received. Insuch cases, an alternative authentication method, for example, anaccount passcode or driver's license, may be used for identification.However, the alternative authentication may have been compromised, forexample, a counterfeit driver's license and/or account password may havebeen illegally obtained. The person requesting the transaction may be animposter attempting to commit fraud by falsely representing that thedevice is lost, stolen or damaged while the true account holder orauthorized user still has the active mobile device.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, a negativePIN-to-device process may be used to identify an attempt to commit fraudon an account, for example, a mobile device account or other account.The PIN and/or an alert message may be generated and transmitted to themobile device even though a customer represented that the mobile devicewas lost, stolen, or damaged. Sending the PIN-to-device when thecustomer represents that the mobile device was lost, stolen, or damagedis referred to herein as a negative PIN-to-device. When the mobiledevice is actually lost, stolen, or damaged, the accountholder/authorized user cannot access the mobile device to respond to thenegative PIN-to-device. However, a response to a negative PIN-to-devicemay be received from the true owner in possession of the mobile devicewhen a transaction is attempted by an imposter that fraudulentlyrepresents that the mobile device is lost, stolen, or damaged.

In the fraudulent case, the negative PIN-to-device would be transmitted,for example, by short message service (SMS), push notification, oranother notification method known in the art, to an active andfunctioning mobile device in the possession of the true account holderand would alert the true account holder to the fact that a fraudulenttransaction, for example, but not limited to, upgrading a service,adding a phone line, obtaining a replacement device, swapping asubscriber identity module (SIM) of the true account holder to a mobiledevice of a fraudster, etc., was being attempted on their account. Thetrue account holder may then contact the sender, for example, byresponding to the PIN and/or alert message via text that the transactionis not authorized, calling a fraud prevention phone number, etc.

When the response that the transaction is not authorized is receivedfrom the true owner of the mobile device within a specified period oftime, the transaction may be identified as fraudulent and the fraudulenttransaction may be canceled or refused. The fraud may be prevented orthe scheme may be detected early and its impact limited. Thus,incorporating the process of sending a negative PIN-to-device to themobile device in question regardless of the expectation of receiving noresponse provides benefits in identifying fraudulent transactions.

FIG. 1 is block diagram of an example system flow 100 for transactionsthrough various ordering channels according to various aspects of thepresent disclosure. Referring to FIG. 1, at block 110, an authorizedcustomer or a fraudster may determine to initiate a transaction througha transaction channel. In some cases, the transaction channel may be aretail channel (block 115), for example, a retail store or otherface-to-face establishment. In some cases, the transaction channel maybe an online ordering channel (block 120), for example, a companywebsite or other online retailer website. In other cases, thetransaction channel may be a contact center (block 125), for example, atelephone contact center of a wireless service provider for the mobiledevice. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that thesetransaction channels are exemplary and that other variations andalternatives may exist and are contemplated as coming within the scopeof the present disclosure.

At block 130, the customer or fraudster may initiate a transactionthrough the transaction channel. The transaction may be initiated byinputting information into a computing system. The computing system mayinclude a computing device having a transaction processing unitconfigured to receive the information and communicate with a transactionprocessing system. The transaction processing system may capture orderdata (e.g., sales data) from customer service employees or directly fromcustomers (e.g., for online orders). The transaction processing systemmay send order information to accounting and shipping departments tofulfill the order.

The transaction may be, for example, but not limited to, upgrading aservice, adding a phone line, obtaining a replacement device, swapping aSIM to a different mobile device, etc. At block 135, PIN-to-deviceauthentication may be offered to authenticate the transaction. Forexample, a customer service representative at a retail store or contactcenter may offer to send a PIN to the mobile device registered, orassociated, with the customer account, or a website may prompt for atelephone number for the mobile device associated with the customeraccount.

At block 140, the customer/fraudster may refuse the PIN-to-deviceauthentication. In the case of the customer, for example, the trueaccount holder or authorized user, the PIN-to-device authentication maybe refused because the mobile device is missing (e.g., lost, stolen, ordamaged). The fraudster, however, may deceptively represent that themobile device is missing. At block 145, a secondary authenticationmethod, for example, a driver's license or account passcode, may beoffered to the customer/fraudster. The true account holder may produceauthentic identification, while the fraudster may produce counterfeitidentification falsely identifying the fraudster as the true accountholder.

Concurrently with the offer of a secondary authentication method, atblock 150, a negative PIN-to-device process may be initiated in which aPIN and/or alert message is generated and transmitted to the mobiledevice that was represented as missing. An alert message may be, forexample, “Someone is attempting to complete a transaction on youraccount, if this is not you, please respond with STOP.” At block 155,processing of the transaction may begin. The time required to processthe transaction may vary depending on the transaction channel. Forexample, a transaction through a retail channel (e.g., a face-to-facetransaction in a retail store) may take an hour or less to complete,while a transaction through an online channel or contact center channelmay take on the order of 24 hours before the transaction is complete(e.g., a new mobile device is shipped). In some cases, an order may beheld for a predetermined amount of time before completing thetransaction. The predetermined amount of time may provide additionaltime to receive a response to the negative PIN-to-device transmitted tothe mobile device.

At block 160, a response to the negative PIN-to-device transmitted tothe mobile device may be received. The response to the negativePIN-to-device may be an indication that the mobile device represented asmissing is active and in the possession of the true account holder.Therefore, the person initiating the transaction may be animposter/fraudster. If the response to the negative PIN-to-device isreceived while the transaction is still being processed, at block 175,the transaction may be stopped.

On the other hand, at block 165, a response to the negativePIN-to-device may not be received while the transaction is still beingprocessed. The lack of a response to the negative PIN-to-device may bean indication that the mobile device associated with the account istruly missing and that the person initiating the transaction may be thetrue account holder. In that case, at block 170, the transaction may becompleted.

FIG. 2 is block diagram of an example system flow 200 for processingnegative PIN-to-device responses indicating a fraudulent transactionaccording to various aspects of the present disclosure. Referring toFIG. 2, a transaction on an account, for example, a mobile deviceaccount, initiated by a fraudster/imposter may begin processing. Forexample, at block 210, the transaction may begin processing through aretail channel. The retail channel may be, for example, a retail storeor other face-to-face establishment. Alternatively, at block 215, thetransaction may begin processing through an online channel (e.g., acompany website or other online retailer website) or contact centerchannel (e.g., a telephone contact center of a wireless serviceprovider). The transaction may be, for example, but not limited to,upgrading a service, adding a phone line, obtaining a replacementdevice, swapping a SIM to a different mobile device, etc.

At block 220, after the transaction has been initiated, a negativePIN-to-device process may be initiated in which a PIN and/or alertmessage is generated and transmitted to the mobile device registered, orassociated, with the account. For example, the PIN and/or alert messagemay be generated by a computing device in a computing environmentassociated with the mobile device service provider. The computing devicemay be in communication with a transaction processing system. Thetransaction processing system may capture order data (e.g., sales data)from customer service employees or directly from customers (e.g., foronline orders). The transaction processing system may send orderinformation to accounting and shipping departments to fulfill the order.At block 225, the PIN and/or alert message may be transmitted to adesignated telephone number of a mobile device associated with theaccount and registered with the service provider. For example, thecomputing device may cause the PIN and/or alert message to betransmitted to the mobile device by, for example, SMS, pushnotification, or another method.

Concurrently, when the transaction is entered through the retailchannel, at block 235, completion of the order may be held for apredetermined amount of time, for example, 30 minutes or another amountof time. For example, a transaction processing system may be configuredto hold processing the transaction for the predetermined amount of time.In some cases, the customer service employees may be trained to delayprocessing of certain transactions when fraud is suspected. In someimplementations, the transaction may require a specific input related tothe negative PIN-to-device process to proceed or be canceled. Forexample, a customer service employee may input an authorization code tothe computing system or a text response to the negative PIN-to-devicemay be received and routed to the transaction processing system. One ofordinary skill in the art will appreciate that other methods of delayingthe processing of a transaction may be used without departing from thescope of the present disclosure.

At block 230, a response to the negative PIN-to-device may be receivedby the service provider within the predetermined period of time thatcompletion of the transaction is delayed. For example, a true accountholder in possession of a mobile device represented as missing by animposter/fraudster may respond to the negative PIN-to-device within theperiod of time that completion of the transaction is delayed. Theresponse indicates that the mobile device is not missing and is inpossession of the true account holder; therefore, the person attemptingthe transaction may be attempting to commit fraud. At block 240, thetext response may be routed to the transaction processing system, andthe transaction processing system may cancel the transaction.Alternatively or additionally, the text response may be routed to acomputing device of a customer service employee and the customer serviceemployee may cancel the transaction. At block 245, theimposter/fraudster may be informed, for example by the customer serviceemployee, or by text message, email, etc., generated by the transactionprocessing system that the transaction cannot be completed.

Similar to the retail channel, when a transaction initiated by afraudster/imposter begins processing through an online channel or acontact center channel (block 215), at block 220, a negativePIN-to-device process may be initiated in which a PIN and/or alertmessage is generated and transmitted to the mobile device associatedwith the account. At block 225, the PIN and/or alert message may betransmitted to a designated telephone number of a mobile deviceregistered with the service provider.

At block 250, the transaction information may be forwarded to atransaction processing system to fulfill the order. Since thetransaction is an online or telephone transaction, order fulfillment mayexperience a normal delay, for example, 24 hours or another period oftime, between the time the fraudsters/imposter initiates the transactionand the time the transaction is completed (e.g., a replacement mobiledevice is shipped). At block 230, a response to the negativePIN-to-device may be received by the service provider within the timeperiod that it takes for completion of the transaction. For example, atrue account holder in possession of a mobile device represented asmissing by an imposter/fraudster may respond to the negativePIN-to-device within the time period that it takes for completion of thetransaction. The response indicates that the mobile device is notmissing and is in possession of the true account holder; therefore, theperson attempting the transaction may be a fraudster attempting tocommit fraud.

At block 255, the text response may be routed to the transactionprocessing system, and the transaction processing system may cancel thetransaction. At block 260, an email or a text message may be sent to thetrue account holder of record that the transaction cannot be completed.For example, the transaction processing system may generate an email ora text message to the true account holder informing the true accountholder that the transaction initiated by the fraudster cannot becompleted.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 300 forauthenticating a transaction using a negative PIN-to-device processaccording to various aspects of the present disclosure. Referring toFIG. 3, at block 310, a transaction may be initiated. A transaction, forexample, upgrading a service, adding a phone line, obtaining areplacement device, swapping a SIM to a different mobile device, etc.,on an account may be initiated either by a true account holder or afraudster. The transaction may be initiated through various channels,for example, at a retail store, online, or via a contact center.Initiating the transaction may include inputting information into acomputing system including a computing device having a transactionprocessing unit configured to receive the information and communicatewith a transaction processing system. When initiating the transaction,the account holder/fraudster may represent that the mobile deviceregistered, or associated, with the account is unavailable (e.g., lost,stolen, damaged, etc.). In such cases, secondary authentication may berequired.

At block 320, when an account holder/fraudster represents that themobile device registered with the account is missing, a negativePIN-to-device may be generated. For example, information regarding theaccount, including information indicating that the registered mobiledevice is missing, may be entered into a computing system that is incommunication with a transaction processing system. In response to theinformation indicating that the registered mobile device is missing, thecomputing system or transaction processing system may automaticallygenerate the negative PIN-to-device. In some implementations, thecomputing system or transaction processing system may receive aninstruction from a user, for example, a customer service employee, togenerate the negative PIN-to-device.

At block 330, the PIN and/or alert message may be transmitted to theregistered mobile device. For example, the computing system ortransaction processing system may automatically transmit the generatedPIN and/or alert message to the mobile device registered to the accountindicated by the account holder or fraudster. In some implementations,the computing system or transaction processing system may receive aninstruction from a user to transmit the negative PIN-to-device.

At block 340, it may be determined whether a response to the negativePIN-to-device is received from the registered mobile device within apredetermined time period during which completion of the transaction maynormally take or be delayed. For example, for a face-to-face transactionat a retail store, completion of the transaction may be delayed for 30minutes or another time period, while completion of the transaction maybe delayed for 24 hours or another period of time typically required foronline or telephone order fulfillment through a transaction processingsystem.

In response to determining that a response to the negative PIN-to-deviceindicating that the transaction is not authorized is received (350-Y)while the transaction is in process, at block 360 it may be determinedthat the true account holder is in possession of the mobile devicerepresented as missing and that the transaction was initiated by afraudster. At block 370 the transaction initiated by the fraudster maybe canceled. For example, the text response may be routed to atransaction processing system, and the transaction processing system maycancel the transaction. Alternatively or additionally, the text responsemay be routed to a computing device of a customer service employee andthe customer service employee may cancel the transaction. The trueaccount holder may be notified, for example, via text message or email,that an attempted transaction was canceled. In response to determiningthat a response to the negative PIN-to-device is not received (350-N),at block 380 it may be determined that the person initiating thetransaction is the true account holder since the mobile device mayactually be missing. In this case, however, the person initiating thetransaction may still be a fraudster and the true account holder may nothave seen the message in time to respond to it. Therefore, at block 390,the transaction may be completed.

It should be appreciated that the specific steps illustrated in FIG. 3provide a particular method for authenticating a transaction accordingto an embodiment.

Other sequences of steps may also be performed according to alternativeembodiments. For example, alternative embodiments may perform the stepsoutlined above in a different order. Moreover, the individual stepsillustrated in FIG. 3 may include multiple sub-steps that may beperformed in various sequences as appropriate to the individual step.Furthermore, additional steps may be added or removed depending on theparticular applications. One of ordinary skill in the art wouldrecognize many variations, modifications, and alternatives.

The method 300 may be embodied on a non-transitory computer readablemedium, for example, but not limited to, a memory or othernon-transitory computer readable medium known to those of skill in theart, having stored therein a program including computer executableinstructions for making a processor, computer, or other programmabledevice execute the operations of the methods.

The negative PIN-to-device improves on other methods of customerauthentication as often fraudsters know and are therefore able tocompromise the fallback authentication methods typically in use in thecase of lost, stolen or damaged devices. For example, a “NO” response bya customer to a text alerting the customer and asking if a transactionwas valid could be tied directly into the sales and ordering system tostop the transaction if it is not yet complete (e.g., a person in astore where the fraudster walks out with the device) or if it has notyet shipped (e.g., an over the phone or online order to be processed andshipped).

One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that while variousaspects of the negative PIN-to-device implementations have beendescribed with respect to attempted fraud committed with respect tomobile device service providers, mobile devices and mobile deviceservices, embodiments consistent with the present disclosure are notlimited to these implementations. For example, embodiments in accordancewith the present disclosure have applications in other areas wheresecondary authentication is used but may be compromised, for example,but not limited to, banking or other financial transactions. One ofordinary skill in the art would recognize many other implementations.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example computing environment 400 withan example computing device suitable for use in some exampleimplementations. The computing device 405 in the computing environment400 may include one or more processing units, cores, or processors 410,memory 415 (e.g., RAM, ROM, and/or the like), internal storage 420(e.g., magnetic, optical, solid state storage, and/or organic), and/orI/O interface 425, any of which may be coupled on a communicationmechanism or a bus 430 for communicating information or embedded in thecomputing device 405.

The computing device 405 may be communicatively coupled to an input/userinterface 435 and an output device/interface 440. Either one or both ofthe input/user interface 435 and the output device/interface 440 may bea wired or wireless interface and may be detachable. The input/userinterface 435 may include any device, component, sensor, or interface,physical or virtual, that can be used to provide input (e.g., buttons,touch-screen interface, keyboard, a pointing/cursor control, microphone,camera, braille, motion sensor, optical reader, and/or the like). Theoutput device/interface 440 may include a display, television, monitor,printer, speaker, braille, or the like. In some example implementations,the input/user interface 435 and the output device/interface 440 may beembedded with or physically coupled to the computing device 405. Inother example implementations, other computing devices may function asor provide the functions of the input/user interface 435 and the outputdevice/interface 440 for the computing device 405.

Examples of the computing device 405 may include, but are not limitedto, mobile devices (e.g., tablets, notebooks, laptops, personalcomputers, portable televisions, radios, and the like), and devices notdesigned for mobility (e.g., desktop computers, other computers,information kiosks, and the like).

The computing device 405 may be communicatively coupled (e.g., via theI/O interface 425) to an external storage device 445, a network 450 forcommunicating with any number of networked components, devices, andsystems, including one or more computing devices of the same ordifferent configuration, and a transaction processing system 490. Insome implementations, the computing device 405 may be communicativelycoupled to the transaction processing system 490 via the network 450.The computing device 405 or any connected computing device may befunctioning as, providing services of, or referred to as a server,client, thin server, general machine, special-purpose machine, oranother label.

The I/O interface 425 may include, but is not limited to, wired and/orwireless interfaces using any communication or I/O protocols orstandards (e.g., Ethernet, 802.11x, Universal System Bus, WiMax, modem,a cellular network protocol, and the like) for communicating informationto and/or from at least all the connected components, devices, andnetwork in the computing environment 400. The network 450 may be anynetwork or combination of networks (e.g., the Internet, local areanetwork, wide area network, a telephonic network, a cellular network,satellite network, and the like).

The computing device 405 can use and/or communicate usingcomputer-usable or computer-readable media, including transitory mediaand non-transitory media. Transitory media include transmission media(e.g., metal cables, fiber optics), signals, carrier waves, and thelike. Non-transitory media include magnetic media (e.g., disks andtapes), optical media (e.g., CD ROM, digital video disks, Blu-raydisks), solid state media (e.g., RAM, ROM, flash memory, solid-statestorage), and other non-volatile storage or memory.

The computing device 405 can be used to implement techniques, methods,applications, processes, or computer-executable instructions in someexample computing environments. Computer-executable instructions can beretrieved from transitory media and stored on and retrieved fromnon-transitory media. The executable instructions may originate from oneor more of any programming, scripting, and machine languages (e.g., C,C++, C#, Java, Visual Basic, Python, Perl, JavaScript, and others).

The processor(s) 410 may execute under any operating system (OS) (notshown), in a native or virtual environment. One or more applications maybe deployed that a include logic unit 460, an application programminginterface (API) unit 465, an input unit 470, an output unit 475, atransaction processing unit 480, and an inter-unit communicationmechanism 495 for the different units to communicate with each other,with the OS, and with other applications (not shown). For example, thetransaction processing unit 480 may implement one or more processesdescribed and/or shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3. The described units andelements can be varied in design, function, configuration, orimplementation and are not limited to the descriptions provided.

In some example implementations, when information or an executioninstruction is received by the API unit 465, it may be communicated toone or more other units (e.g., the logic unit 460, the input unit 470,the output unit 475, and the transaction processing unit 480). Forexample, after the input unit 470 has detected a user indication, theinput unit 470 may use the API unit 465 to communicate the userindication to the transaction processing unit 480. The transactionprocessing unit 480 may, via the API unit 465, interact with the outputunit 475 to communicate information (e.g., via the I/O interface 425) tothe transaction processing system 490. The transaction processing system490 may capture order data from customer service employees or fromcustomers directly, for example via the input/user interface 435 and thetransaction processing unit 480, store the data in a central database(not shown) and send order information to accounting and shippingdepartments, for example via the network 450, if applicable. Thetransaction processing system 490 may also provide tracking data onorders and inventory.

In some instances, the logic unit 460 may be configured to control theinformation flow among the units and direct the services provided by theAPI unit 465, the input unit 470, the output unit 475, and thetransaction processing unit 480 in some example implementationsdescribed above. For example, the flow of one or more processes orimplementations may be controlled by the logic unit 460 alone or inconjunction with the API unit 465.

The examples and embodiments described herein are for illustrativepurposes only. Various modifications or changes in light thereof will beapparent to persons skilled in the art. These are to be included withinthe spirit and purview of this application, and the scope of theappended claims, which follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for authenticating a transaction, themethod comprising: receiving, by a processing system including aprocessor, an indication from a transaction processing system that acommunication device associated with a user account of a communicationservice provider is not available for an authentication step due tobeing lost or stolen; and responsive to the receiving the indicationthat the communication device associated with the user account is notavailable for the authentication step due to being lost or stolen:transmitting, by the processing system, an alert message to thecommunication device associated with the user account, wherein the alertmessage includes a personal identification number (PIN); monitoring, bythe processing system, for a response message from the communicationdevice associated with the user account; determining, by the processingsystem, whether the response message from the communication deviceassociated with the account is received within a time period andincludes the PIN; canceling, by the processing system, the transactionresponsive to the determining that the response message from thecommunication device associated with the user account is received withinthe time period and includes the PIN; and completing, by the processingsystem, the transaction responsive to the determining that the responsemessage from the communication device associated with the user accountis not received within the time period or does not include the PIN. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the authentication step requires accessto the communication device associated with the user account.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising transmitting, by the processingsystem, a prompt to the transaction processing system to perform anauthentication step for the transaction.
 4. The method of claim 3,wherein the user account is associated with a communication device. 5.The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the processingsystem, a request from the transaction processing system for thetransaction associated with a user account of a communication serviceprovider.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating, bythe processing system, the PIN responsive to the receiving theindication that the communication device associated with the useraccount is not available for the authentication due to being lost orstolen.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by theprocessing system, the time period based on a transaction channelassociated with the response message.
 8. The method of claim 7, whereinthe transaction channel is one of a retail transaction channel, anonline transaction channel, or a contact center transaction channel. 9.The method of claim 1, wherein the time period is an amount of time lessthan a time for completing the transaction.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein the canceling the transaction further comprises routing, by theprocessing system, the response message received from the communicationdevice associated with the user account to the transaction processingsystem.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting the alertmessage to the communication device associated with the user account isvia short message service (SMS) or push notification.
 12. A device,comprising: a processing system including a processor; and a memory thatstores executable instructions that, when executed by the processingsystem, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:receiving an indication from a transaction processing system that acommunication device associated with a user account of a communicationservice provider is not available for an authentication step due tobeing lost or stolen; and responsive to the receiving the indicationthat the communication device associated with the user account is notavailable for the authentication step due to being lost or stolen:transmitting an alert message to the communication device associatedwith the user account; monitoring for a response message from thecommunication device associated with the user account; determiningwhether the response message from the communication device associatedwith the account is received within a time period and includes the PIN;canceling the transaction responsive to the determining that theresponse message from the communication device associated with the useraccount is received within the time period and includes a personalidentification number (PIN); and completing the transaction responsiveto the determining that the response message from the communicationdevice associated with the user account is not received within the timeperiod or does not include the PIN
 13. The device of claim 12, whereinthe alert message includes the PIN.
 14. The device of claim 12, whereinthe authentication step requires access to the communication deviceassociated with the user account.
 15. The device of claim 12, furthercomprising transmitting, by the processing system, a prompt to thetransaction processing system to perform an authentication step for thetransaction, wherein the user account is associated with a communicationdevice.
 16. The device of claim 12, further comprising receiving, by theprocessing system, a request from the transaction processing system forthe transaction associated with a user account of a communicationservice provider.
 17. The device of claim 12, further comprisinggenerating, by the processing system, the PIN responsive to thereceiving the indication that the communication device associated withthe user account is not available for the authentication due to beinglost or stolen.
 18. The device of claim 12, further comprisingdetermining, by the processing system, the time period based on atransaction channel associated with the response message.
 19. Anon-transitory computer readable medium, comprising executableinstructions that, when executed by a processing system including aprocessor, facilitate performance of operations, the operationscomprising: receiving an indication from a transaction processing systemthat a communication device associated with a user account of acommunication service provider is not available for an authenticationstep due to being lost or stolen; and responsive to the receiving theindication that the communication device associated with the useraccount is not available for the authentication step due to being lostor stolen: transmitting an alert message to the communication deviceassociated with the user account; determining whether a response messageis received from the communication device associated with the accountand whether the response message is received within a time period andincludes the PIN; canceling the transaction responsive to thedetermining that the response message from the communication deviceassociated with the user account is received within the time period andincludes a personal identification number (PIN); and completing thetransaction responsive to the determining that the response message fromthe communication device associated with the user account is notreceived within the time period or does not include the PIN
 20. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, transmitting, bythe processing system, a prompt to the transaction processing system toperform an authentication step for the transaction, wherein the useraccount is associated with a communication device.